On February 12-13 Ministry of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis will visit Berlin to meet with Federal Minister of Defence of Germany Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, representatives of Federal Defence and Foreign Ministries, Federal Chancellery and the Bundestag.

Lithuania consistently supports Ukraine that defends the freedom not only of its country, but also that of the entire Europe, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius in a meeting with the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Lithuania’s Foreign Minister is visiting Kyiv.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė attended the Baltic Summit. The annual meeting of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Presidents is held in a different Baltic state each year. This time, the summit was hosted by the Latvian President in Riga.

Civil Liberties Committee MEPs will question Council and Commission representatives on Thursday about the decision once again to prolong internal border checks in place in five countries in the Schengen passport-free area for another three months, until mid-May.

On 8 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Victor Dolidze. The Ministers discussed preparations for the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit, as well as Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration agenda.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė welcomed NATO troops who had arrived to serve in the enhanced forward presence battalion deployed to Lithuania, and met with German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen in Rukla. Taking part in the ceremony held at the Lithuanian Great Hetman Jonušas Radvila Training Regiment were also soldiers from the United States, Belgium, and the Czech Republic.

The internal market committee votes this week on new rules to improve the quality and independence of safety and environmental tests for new cars. The economic committee discusses the latest economic and monetary developments, while the civil liberties committee debates whether to extend temporary internal border checks in some European countries with representatives from the European Commission.

To create a better Europe, the EU is focusing this year on legislative proposals that can make a difference to everyone. The main issues to tackle include security, the migration crisis, climate change and the digital single market. Find out more about the EU's six priorities for 2017 and what Parliament is doing to make them possible.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani visited Malta on the eve of the Informal European Council to be held in Valletta on 3 February. Tajani met representatives of Maltese civil society, student organisations, unions, business organisations and NGOs at Europe House in Valletta for an informal exchange of views on the challenges facing Europe today.

On 1 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius had a telephone conversation with Germany’s new Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel to discuss bilateral relations and a European agenda.